


Declawed

by LottieWritesLetters



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien loses his miraculous so no chat noir for the most part, Adrinette mostly, F/M, Fluff, Marinette is trying her best, Post Season 3, There are spoilers!, happy ending i swear, i explain everything that needs to be explained incase you dont care about the spoilers, we will miss his cat puns dearly, writing from hawkmoths perspective is eerily fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26133607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieWritesLetters/pseuds/LottieWritesLetters
Summary: “Give it to me.” Chat blinked, not taking his hand away from hers, a show of trust that clashed with the confusion scrawled across his face.“What?”"Give me your miraculous Chat."When Chat Noir's miraculous cracks, something neither of the super duo previously thought possible, Marinette takes it upon herself to solve this problem without help, not meaning to break Chat's trust along with his jewelry.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Plagg & Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26





	Declawed

One week, he would not grant her more than that. Gabriel Agreste stood in the mouth of his lawyer, just beside the crystalline coffin inside which his wife slept without breath. He let his eyes rake over the marvelous room he had cultivated just for her, a catacomb beautiful enough to be used as a ballroom and sinister enough to earn him a sentence. 

This was what Ladybug wanted- he was sure. To see him locked away, tried for crimes of the heart, as if any other sensible person would not have followed this same path to see their loved one returned to them. No, Ladybug thought him the villain- but she also thought she had won. One week ago she had become the new owner of the miraculous box, the new guardian, a mere child, the protector of the worlds most sacred and powerful treasures. If she thought he would delay his plans, lay low after the monstrous battle that had just taken place, she was sorely mistaken. He would not grant her more than this one precarious week- not when his final ace was ready to be put into play. 

He stepped away from his wife’s tomb, running tired fingers over the glass ridges as he went. His kaleidoscope of butterflies awaited him, all flapping their wings to stay afloat and yet not moving about the room- like dozens of paper cranes strung up on a child's mobile. Gabriel flipped up the color of his primpresed suit and unraveled the tie underneath, letting it slip through his fingers and float to the floor as he activated the miraculous jewel hidden underneath. 

Nuroo, the kwami of the butterfly miraculous who stuck, and was stuck sticking, closer to Gabriel than anyone else was sucked into the pin as his rich and sheltered fashion icon facade fell away only to be replaced with the strapping wine purple suit and cowl of Hawkmoth. Myura appeared at his side, Natalie Gabirel’s assistant by day and sidekick super villain by night, spreading her fan over her face and fluttering its purple feathers across the bridge of her nose. In her other hand, a clenched fist, she had a small feather currently being charged full of negative energy. Having been previously briefed on the script for this evening's evil scheme, she spoke first, opening her hand for the indigo feather to bob in the air up above it.

“Go my precious amuck.” The feather drifted almost lazily away, heeding her commands and settling on the nose of Hawkmoth’s cane- the weapon created by his miraculous. “Hawk Moth, with this sentimonster I grant you the authority you need to conquer that child who calls herself a hero, with this new staff you will be able to possess any individual you want to obey you, whether they possess any negative emotions or not.” The cane was enveloped in a tower of nightshade like ripples which cleared away to reveal a tall staff the same color as hawkmoth’s suit, with a stained glass like butterfly as the star on top, so it looked like a strange cross between an old wizard's staff and a little girls light up princess wand. Hawkmoth didn't seem worried. 

He hummed in thanks, lifting the staff with his right hand and carefully touching its crest to a fluttering wing of a low hanging paper like butterfly, instandly enveloping it in darkness like it had been doused in black ink. “Fly away my little akuma, take the mind of my enemies and bring them back here to me!” 

Every day for a week ladybug and Chat Noir had gone out of nightly patrols, under the radar so they thought, confident in their ability to keep the city of Paris safe. He would not give them any more time to bolster such arrogant thoughts- not when he was so close to achieving his goal. No, they would learn to see his side, give him what they wanted, whether they liked it or not. 

* * *

For Marinette, the extra patrol hours were both a blessing and a curse. She and Chat Noir had never really scheduled time before to scale the rooftops of Paris and purposely seek out danger. Akuma’s made it their primary objective to draw out the heroes, so they were never too difficult to find when they did appear. And besides that, it wasn't as if she could patrol 24/7 and most of the supervillains tended to attack while she was at school or during the work day, they didn't wait in search of dusks shadows to hide their brightly colored suits. 

In any case, all these hours running and jumping in search of nothing were both therapeutic and nerve wracking for the teen heroine. Chat Noir tended to show up late half the time, explaining with somewhat guilty eyes that being the black cat had never collided with his busy schedule so much before. Ladybug of course wasn't angry with him. There had been hardly any activity on the streets in the last seven days, super villain or otherwise. She had rescued a cat out of a tree on Tuesday and that had been somewhat rewarding until she realized she couldn't find its owner, if it even had one, and had let it loose in the park.

Today was Thursday and Marinette’s paranoia was finally starting to wind down. She had figured her nemesis would be positively radiating anger, perhaps enough to launch into another ludacris and deadly plan like akumatized himself or Mayura. (Could he use a butterfly on himself? She always wondered- the closest test she could think of was Chat’s cataclysm and he could never try than on himself)  
Streetlamps and window lights were flickering on all over the city, replacing the fleeting sunlight. Before this week, Marintte had always passed the sunset off as an event, a very gradual gradient in the sky from light to dark, with no pin pointed end or beginning, but lately it felt more like a switch on the stars, like she could pirouette and the city of lights would be illuminating itself without help from the heavens. This was about the time Chat Noir showed up, usually sauntering and cheeky and cracking extra jokes to ease the mood. Chat, who was perhaps the only other person in the world to see the cracks in Ladybug’s foundation, who was the only reason she hadn't crumbled away. This polka dotted spandex suit inspired boundless confidence for the most part, but when she missed a step and needed a pep talk there he was. 

And here he was now, swinging the end of his tail like she did her yoyo, grinning down at her from his perch on a worn chimney. “Good evening M’ladybug, sorry for showing up late again, my catnap ran overtime.” 

Ladybug dropped into a criss cross applesauce position on the rooftop, a home she guessed, the tilted blanket of shingles ruffled and looking like the stretchy fabric of a skirt she was currently working on. 

“Hey, My kitty.” She patted the tiles next to her and he settled down, leaning comfortably back on his hands. “I already told you, don't be sorry. If anything we have been out here too much, there hasn't been any danger all week.” 

“Well there's never any harm in extra heroics- and I never get tired of spending quality time with you, bugaboo.” His teasing was endearing to say the least, and Ladybug let herself slump back, mirroring his lax position. 

“For all we know there will be far less akuma’s now, wouldn't that be something.” She mused.

“We still beat the final boss.”

“Yeah, and we will.” Ladybug said, and it pricked her confidence just to let the words fall out. “Nothing can get in the way of the bug and cat team.”

“I thought we were the _cat_ and _bug_ team,” Chat cut in, his ears drooping in mock hurt. How did he control the suit like that? She wondered. Maybe he wasn’t controlling it at all, maybe it was just instinct- his Kwami’s doing perhaps? 

____She rolled her eyes back at him, “You wish silly kitty,” and let her mind drift up into the steadily darkening sky, deliberating her costume's lack of moving parts when compared with Chat’s, who’s leather cuffs and tail made him look admittedly like the badass of the pair. Marinette had wondered often, and sketched in her journal , costume parallels for herself. What else would a ladybug need? Wings perhaps- the sky would hardly be the limit if she could fly. On one rainy afternoon several weeks back she had consulted the internet for ideas but little girl’s party masks and headbands with pom pom antennae had been her greatest discoveries. Perhaps her suit was best left alone._ _ _ _

____And just like that her spotted wall of paranoia began to crumble away, like it had been corrected by her magical ladybugs. She and Chat Noir- the unstoppable duo, it was true. As long as they could fight together there was nothing to worry about. Silly sentimental cliche thoughts were taking form, scrolling in circles around her mind like news headlines, a caption on the dark city she loves so much, currently illuminated by happy windows and street lights, challenging the luminescence of the stars above._ _ _ _

____And out of the shadows flapped a small black butterfly, small enough to curl up in her palm, innocent as a handmade paper crane in its wanderings. Innocent as a toy hanging on a child’s mobile- as a shard of stained glass, content to roam the streets of paris._ _ _ _

____Until it found its target. One super ladybird and her partner dressed in black._ _ _ _

____Chat saw it first, a side effect of either his ever handy night vision or just because cats tend to jump after anything that moves, and he rolled back onto his feet, snagging his baton and rolling it between his fingers in one fluid motion._ _ _ _

____“Ladybug- there!” He pointed with one clawed finger to the black dot that was the akuma, moving towards them on a crooked path- like a bat rather than a butterfly. Chat's voice was hard and compact, almost stern. Though there were rarely akuma sightings before an unlucky victim was transformed, they came like the calm in the storm. There were no shrieking stempeeding citizens ducking for shelter, and without them to worry about the super duo could handle the issue without raised voices or overly complicated plans. The down side of this was that the atmosphere nearly always felt heavier, fully saturated with responsibility, because if they let that simple butterfly get away and a citizen did get hurt, well that was on them._ _ _ _

____“I see it.” She confirmed, her yoyo already in her hand, streaking a scarlet circle in the air, glowing like the tail lights of a car at midnight. It was just out of range, but she was ready to strike, leaning slightly forward and readying her legs to spring, practically daring the butterfly forwards._ _ _ _

____And then it was above their heads and Ladybug shot up like a jack-in-the-box and let her throwing arm stretch and do a full ark before letting the yoyo fly at full force, pinpointing the akuma as always and- bouncing off. Her weapon was sent back in her face as if she had thrown two opposing magnets together rather than her indestructible magic weapon which had never failed her- until now.  
Ladybug stuck the landing as she fell back to earth, and her yoyo clattered beside her as if it contained no more power than any other stringed toy. “Chat- somethings wrong!” _ _ _ _

____Perhaps it was stating the obvious, but reiterating the fact kept her confidence from abandoning post and letting the panic lay siege. She was in control- she understood the situation at hand, no matter how dire, she could see with eyes unclouded by fear._ _ _ _

____“Don't worry, i've got this one.” He called back almost immediately, followed by a, “Cataclysm!”_ _ _ _

____His ring hand begam enveloped in angry destructive magic- like a cloud of ash. He copied her jump and met the akuma halfway- it swooped, almost as if it was aiming for them as much as they were it. Chat closed the toxic bug in his fist for a moment. It was victory at last, he handed all cat-like and grinned at her. Then his face contorted- hissing lips and scared crinkles eyes and he held up his left hand as if it wasn't his own._ _ _ _

____The power from his cataclysm faded away, presumably used up, and though the akuma was gone it had not been destroyed- it had melded with his ring. His miraculous charm was now a purple band on his finger. Chat was hissing curses like it hurt- like it was burning him and, judging by how ominous lilac smokey mist rolling up from the ring, Ladybug guessed it was. She was by his side in half a second, taking his trembling hand in her own, and grappling for his cheek with the other. This would not be Chat Blanc all over again, she wouldn't let it._ _ _ _

____“Chat- Chat don't let it win! This akuma is stronger than our jewelry but it isn't stronger than you- you can't let it take you,” She pleaded, rubbing her fingers down his face and neck and back again, trying to anchor him to her in any way she could, forcing him to keep his attention on her. His teeth were gritted- and it was only at times morbid as this that she vaguely confirmed that his miraculous powers gave him slight feline canines. “Kitty please!” She said again, more forcefully. “Stay with me.”_ _ _ _

____He shook his head as she rambled and sucked in long measured breaths- constricted ones, like he could only get a little air at a time through a long straw. “I’m here- I’m here m’lady it just hurts.”_ _ _ _

____“We have to go to-” She came up short. There was no Master Fu- no guardian to run to for help. She was the new owner of the miracle box, their last line of defence. She had no idea what to do._ _ _ _

____Across Paris, Hawkmoth was gaping at the window, clutching at his cane to tightenly it shook and muttered against the stone floor._ _ _ _

____“No!” He shouted to the room at large. “Not the miraculous! Come back at once, My akuma, I command you!” It was the fatal mistake he hoped he would make only once. Combining the powers of multiple miracles was difficult enough when there was a human vessel to pick up the slack- but such celestial forces were not supposed to be combined unless the circumstances were perfect and precise. “You'll damage it- return at once!” And the butterfly complied, no real mind of its own, only the subtle capacity for miscommunication._ _ _ _

____The butterfly retreated from Chat’s ring, leaking between the hero’s interlaced fingers like oil, and took off into the night. Ladybug didn't go after it- she couldn't take her eyes away from her partners face, gleaming with sweat and braced with creases that looked like they might scar- his expression might be painfully contorted forever. But after a moment it smoothed over, and chat stepped away from her and hung his head back so his main golden hair fell out of his eyes. Ladybug half expected him to collapse- and he didn’t, though he slowly slumped forward of his own accord, drawing his knees to his chest._ _ _ _

____She peppered him with worries and accusatory questions, as if he was feigning the relief evident in his emerald stained eyes._ _ _ _

____“I’m alright bugaboo, I'm alright just-” And then he suched in a breath and his fist clenched._ _ _ _

____She snatched his hand away in an instant, momentarily forgetting it was linked up to the rest of him and tugging him forward. The paw pad was cracked jaggedly down the middle, like a broken heart, a piece of paper messily ripped in two._ _ _ _

____“Oh, Chat….” She breathed._ _ _ _

____Across Paris Hawkmoth was seething. Cursing the powers he had been blessed with, raging at their betrayal._ _ _ _

____“It's broken…” Ladybug whispered, and the words seemed to crystalize in the air between them, condemning._ _ _ _

____“How is that even possible? The miraculous are supposed to be indestructible,” Chat murmured, staring at the piece of jewelry as if he had never seen it before. Then he startled- “Plagg! What if this hurt my kwami- what if the akuma attacked him?” Ladybug could only shake her head. She had no idea what happened to their kwami’s when they got sucked into the miraculous- she had, strangely, never thought to ask._ _ _ _

____He looked at her for help- for direction, guidance she didn't possess. But she knew who might- the beings as old as the miraculouses themselves._ _ _ _

____“Give it to me.” Chat blinked, not taking his hand away from hers, a show of trust that clashed with the confusion scrawled across his face._ _ _ _

____“What?”_ _ _ _

____“I'll turn away, you need to detransform and give me your miraculous. I have a copy of the guardians book at my house- Master Fu passed that alone with the miracle box. Chat, we both know what happened to the peacock miraculous- it's dangerous for you to be wearing that ring. Give it to me.” The words were harsh instead of confident, raw rather than consoling, wrong all wrong. All Ladybug could think about was solving the problem- on her own at her desk where she could think, where she had the last of Master fu’s work for help. This thing was hurting her best friend and she had to get it away from him._ _ _ _

____Now Chat retracted his hand, narrowing his eyes at her._ _ _ _

____“Ladybug, this isn't a problem I can’t hand over to you to solve- this is my miracle, we can work this out together.”_ _ _ _

____“You can't wear it if it's hurting you!” She all but screamed. This wasn't a conversation or a debate- she couldn't let it become one. This wasn't just some enchanted jewelry- this was the miraculous of the black cat. It was one of the two strongest miracles on the planet and its purpose was utter destruction. Silent muted destruction which struck in an instant and left nothing in it’s wake but dust and shadows- no rubble or corpses to greve over. The very thought made her jump forward to grab his wrist, tug it back in her direction._ _ _ _

____“It won't hurt me immediately- go get your book and we can figure this out together.” But his fist was shaking- it was aching, she was sure of it._ _ _ _

____“That isn't a risk I'm willing to take Chat.” His mouth gobbled like a fish for a moment._ _ _ _

____Then, “We’re a team M’lady, this just another problem. We can fix it- but we need a clear headed ladybug to do that.”_ _ _ _

____Petty words gathered in the back of her throat- that she was more clear minded than _him_ if he thought risking his safety was an option. That she was the one who came up with the plans, and she was doing it again and he ought to listen. Instead she argued, “This is clearly all part of Hawkmoths plan- we can't take any chances, let alone ones that put you in danger.” The black cat stiffened, straightening up and lifting his chin, for the first time since they had met, using his height to stand above her, really look down on her. ___ _

______“If either of us is going to handle this- it’s me. This is my power, Plagg is my friend, you can't expect me to just hand it over.” His pleading voice compromised his false composure._ _ _ _ _ _

______“And im the guardian of the miraculous- this is my job, to look after them. What will you do without the kwami’s help?” Ladybug didn't want to take in his features- discuss all the ways his heartbroken betrayed expression was clawing up her heart. “I'll give it back to you later- when I’ve fixed it. I promise Chat, I'm going to make everything better. “_ _ _ _ _ _

______“When?” he whispered._ _ _ _ _ _

______She blinked. "When what?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“How long will it take you to fix? Until i can come back as Chat noir?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I don't know.” And it felt like admitting defeat. “Time- a long time maybe, but i will succeed.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Let me help you,” He pleaded again. Maneuvering his hand to clap it around hers. He was begging with her, with ladybug, his partner, and she hated it._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Give it to me Chat. You can't wear it any longer, take it off,” And one again her words had been lines with brambles and thorns and they pierced the night air like icicles._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Fine.” He said, and then, before she could step away. “Claws in.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Chat no-” She gasped, lunging forward as if she could physically strain the words. But it was too late._ _ _ _ _ _

______Adrien Agreste- Adrien, her Adrien, met her gaze, and it was the sourest expression she had ever seen grace his sunny features, it was a look reserved for dark corners and stormy nights- a look that should never be directed at another living soul, because it was _withering_. And betrayed. And broken. ___ _ _ _

________“Take it, ladybug.” He slipped off the ring._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> Remember that time we all agreed that Adrien needs to be Chat Noir to feel free of his sheltered life? Would be a shame if that option got taken away.....  
> I'm sorry I'm not always this evil I swear  
> This is my first miraculous fic what I can I say, had to make an impression


End file.
